Haruka-papa
by Karasuma
Summary: Hotaru gets a boyfriend, and Haruka gets territorial. Some suggestive stuff between Haruka/Michiru, nothing the kiddies can't handle, I don't think. ^_~


The sound of screeching tires woke Haruka out of her sleep with a loud snort. As her brain began to register what she'd just heard, the adrenaline started rushing. Someone had stolen her car! She should call the police! Chase them down! At least go make sure the house was intact! Go-  
Oh. That was right. Hotaru had a boyfriend now.  
With a groan, she flopped back down and buried her face in the pillow. While she hadn't aged much since the fight with Galaxia, Hotaru had had another growth spurt. With that growth spurt came the usual teenage hormones, and with the hormones came a boyfriend, in the form of a tall, dark-eyed kid named Kaketa. Michiru thought he was quite a gentleman. Setsuna thought he was darling.  
Haruka couldn't stand him. Before she could start gritting her teeth, however, Michiru woke, gazing around sleepily.  
"Was that Kaketa-kun I just heard?" she mumbled.  
"Hai," Haruka grumbled back, not bothering to lift her face from the pillow.  
She heard Michiru chuckling, and scooted further away from her on the bed. She wasn't in the mood for another lecture about being a 'father-figure.'  
It didn't work. Michiru only scooted closer and started playing with Haruka's hair. "He's not that bad, you know," she began.  
"Yes he is," Haruka grumbled again. "He's a little teenage twit without a brain in his head." She scooted further away again.  
Michiru scooted closer. "That's not true. He's a very good student, just like Hotaru-chan. He's an excellent driver. He has impeccable manners. What's not to like?"  
"They're too young." Haruka was at the very edge of the bed now.  
Michiru laughed. "Love, they're older than we were. Well, sort of..." she corrected herself. It was hard for them to discuss whether Hotaru was old enough for certain activities. In the literal sense, she was just over a year old. Her physical appearance was closer to fifteen or sixteen.  
"They're still too young." She couldn't really escape from the lecture now, so she just stayed where she was, letting Michiru comb through her morning knots.  
"You're impossible," Michiru remarked, and abruptly poked her in the side.  
Haruka tumbled off the bed and landed on her rear end with a loud, "Oof!" She glared up at Michiru. "That was a dirty trick."  
Michiru stretched out over the bed and leaned over the side, head rested on her arms. Smiling sweetly, she remarked, "You deserved it, Miss Stubborn."  
"Stubborn, huh?" she grumped, getting up and checking herself over for bruises. "I can be stubborn on more than one thing, you know," she mock-threatened.  
"I doubt that," Michiru replied, rising to her knees and grabbing Haruka around the waist. Before Haruka could protest, she was caught up in a long morning kiss.  
When it ended, Haruka let out a groan. "Between you and Hotaru-chan, I can never stay mad at anyone in this house." She rolled her eyes expressively.  
Michiru laughed. "Tough guy," she teased.  
Without warning, Haruka pinned her to the bed and grinned evilly. "That's right. And I know your weakness." She proceeded to tickle her mercilessly.  
  
***  
  
In another portion of the house, Setsuna awoke to the sounds of tickling and... other things... in the master bedroom. She groaned. If she had any say in the matter, those two would have a soundproof room to sneak into if they decided to have a little fun with each other. She wanted sleep and she was sure Hotaru-chan...  
Running a quick mental scan on the house, she discovered Hotaru had already left the house. Great. So now she was stuck in the house with *those two* in *that* kind of mood. Fantastic.  
She stumbled out of bed and into the shower, glad for the quiet the sound of running water would bring. And if it wasn't quiet, at the very least it would muffle what was going on in other parts of the house.  
Not five minutes into scrubbing down her long, dark green hair, however, the shower began to run freezing cold. That could only mean one thing.  
She rinsed off her hair as well as she could and began pounding on the walls. "I WAS TRYING TO TAKE A SHOWER, YOU TWO!" she yelled.  
All she heard through the bathroom walls was more muffled laughter, along with other noises she didn't care to think about. This just wasn't her day.  
Getting out of the shower stall, she wrapped a towel around herself and examined her hair. An idea formed in her head as she looked at the sink and vanity she'd installed in her bathroom. Grinning at the faucets evilly, she began running hot water in the sink. Seconds later, a satisfying shriek was emitted from upstairs, followed by Haruka's cursing, which was mostly unintelligible over the sound of running water.   
Maybe today was looking up, after all.  
  
***  
  
"That was NOT amusing, Setsuna-san," Haruka grumbled at breakfast that same morning.  
Setsuna grinned. "I found it vastly entertaining, personally."  
"You would," Michiru said, but she was grinning, too. It had been a great way of getting revenge, she had to admit.  
Haruka stared at her. "And now I suppose *you* think it was funny."  
Michiru giggled. "The look on your face was worth all that freezing water."  
While Haruka grumbled some more, Setsuna took the opportunity to get a few more points in. "Aww, does Haruka-chan have a little black raincloud over her head today?" she teased in a sing-song voice.  
"Yes. I've named it Puu."  
"And she's grumpy, too," Setsuna remarked, picking up her dishes and carrying them to the kitchen.  
"I was in a GREAT mood until a certain SOMEONE hadn't INTERRUPTED our SPECIAL MOMENT by forcing COLD WATER into OUR SHOWER!" Haruka scowled.  
Michiru kissed her cheek and picked up her own dishes. "Darling, I have one word for you: Adjust. Maybe I'll make it up to you later." With a wink, she followed Setsuna, who only sweatdropped and tried to ignore them.  
Haruka groaned and buried her head in her arms. She'd been right; this just wasn't her day.  
  
***  
  
It was 10:03 according to the clock. Three minutes past Hotaru's curfew. Michiru and Setsuna were in the den playing Mah Jong and watching the news. Haruka was in the hallway, pacing nervously. At every sound she heard in the street, she would dash to the window and look for headlights in their driveway. And every time it wasn't Hotaru, voices from the den beckoned to her to sit down, relax, stop worrying.  
Easy for *them* to say. It wasn't *their* daughter.  
Well, actually, it was. But this was *different*, dammit. She kept pacing.  
10:04 passed. Approximately six days later, so did 10:05. 10:06. 10:07. Finally, at 10:08, about one nanosecond before Haruka was going to grab her keys and go looking for them, the headlights on the street turned to face the house. Haruka ran out, Setsuna and Michiru on her heels to make sure she behaved in Kaketa's presence.  
Haruka watched suspiciously as Hotaru and Kaketa unbuckled their seatbelts and got out of the car. Kaketa looked a little chagrined at having to explain himself to Haruka, who was glaring at him fiercely enough to shoot lasers from her eyes.  
"Ara, Tenoh-san, there was some traffic in downtown Tokyo. I tried my best to get her home on time, but the traffic prevented it. Gomen nasai." He bowed respectfully while Hotaru smiled, starry-eyed, at him.  
Haruka made some kind of snort in reply, while Setsuna and Michiru glared at her. Setsuna stepped forward before Haruka decided to get violent.   
"It's quite all right, Kaketa-kun. We know you tried. We're just glad you're both safe. Arigato." She smiled at him, which caused the tension wrinkle between his eyebrows to disappear.  
Michiru, too, decided to put in her two bits before Haruka drove her hooks into him again. "Hotaru-chan, why don't you take your Haruka-papa inside? I'm sure she wants to hear about your day."  
Haruka glare shifted towards Michiru as Hotaru grabbed her hand and dragged her inside. Forcing Haruka to hear about it from Hotaru was far better than having her trying to strangle it out of Kaketa in the driveway.  
"Doumo arigato," Kaketa thanked them, and bowed again. "You don't know what it means to not have to explain to her." Shifting uncomfortably, he whispered confidentially to the two of them, "She's a little intimidating."  
Michiru dissolved in giggles while Setsuna managed to gasp, "A *LITTLE*?"  
Kaketa grinned at the two of them and slid back into his car. "Ja ne!" he addressed them from the open window.  
"Ja!" they cried back between fits of laughter.  
  
***  
  
Hotaru was asleep. Setsuna was asleep. Michiru was snoring softly next to her, face buried in her neck.   
Haruka was *not* sleeping. Far from it. She'd gotten that same lecture again, this time from Michiru *and* Setsuna. Hotaru was growing up, and Haruka just couldn't play the protective papa like she was used to.  
Because that was precisely what had bothered her about Kaketa from the start. He was taking over *her* role. *She* was supposed to be the one Hotaru went to. *She* was supposed to be her support, her shoulder to cry on. *She* was her guardian, not that hormone-crazed child!  
She gave up on sleeping and slipped out of bed quietly, so as not to wake Michiru. She pulled on her bedrobe and padded down the stairs to the bottom floor. Stumbling through the darkness, she finally found the door to Hotaru's room. Still in the darkness, she made her way to Hotaru's bed and perched on the edge.   
Hotaru was sound asleep, looking much younger than the sixteen years she appeared to be in daylight. To Haruka's eyes, she looked like a very long four year old, curled up happily in the sheets. She reached out a hand and began playing with the short, purple-black hair, feeling the maternal pull that Hotaru always seemed to bring out in her. She began humming tunelessly as she braided and unbraided the short hair.   
She didn't notice the large purple eyes open and blink a few times in surprise. Nor was she surprised when Hotaru got up and stared Haruka in the face. "Haruka-papa?"  
She smiled. "Hime-chan," she acknowledged.  
"What are you doing awake?" Hotaru scooted to where Haruka was and leaned against her.  
Haruka put her arms around her and sighed. "Worrying."  
Hotaru chuckled. "About Kaketa?"  
Haruka cringed, only in part at Hotaru's lack of suffix use. "No," she lied smoothly.  
"I don't believe you."  
She paused before answering. "Well, I worry about him a little."  
"I think you worry more than a little."  
Haruka cringed again. Hotaru was becoming too much like Michiru for her own good. She didn't like that many people being able to see through her. "Maybe," she answered vaguely.  
Hotaru giggled, reminiscent of her childhood laughter. "Haruka-papa," she scolded gently, "I'm not a baby anymore. I'm growing up."  
Haruka sighed in response and hugged her daughter closer. "I know, Hime-chan." Damn, she hated these soul-searching talks. She searched for the right words before continuing. "Your Michiru-mama and Setsuna-mama and I love you very much. None of us will ever have children. That's not our destiny. So we've put all our family love into raising you. And you'll be leaving us, much sooner than we think. Sooner than any other child leaves their family." She stopped, not wanting to bring up negative feelings about Hotaru's awkward aging.  
Hotaru only smiled that ancient smile, the smile that reminded them just how old an entity really lived within the child. "Haruka-papa, I really do like Kaketa. Maybe it isn't true love, but I do like him. But I'll always love you more than any boy who will ever come into my life. You'll never break my heart."  
Haruka grinned and kissed her forehead. "Arigato, Hime-chan."  
Hotaru closed her eyes, still snuggled up to Haruka, and yawned elaborately. "Haruka-papa? I'm gonna go back to sleep now..."  
Haruka nodded and allowed her daughter to snuggle back under the covers. Hotaru kept in her giggles as Haruka adjusted her pillow, her blankets, and made a general fuss over her. She fell asleep to Haruka's humming and her fingers brushing through her hair soothingly.  
  
***  
  
Michiru awoke early, brought into consciousness by the realization that Haruka was not at her side. Crawling out of bed and donning her bedrobe, she tiptoed downstairs and into Hotaru's room before making any search for her mate.  
Slowly, she opened the door, surprised that it was not shut tight, but rather cracked open. As she slid in, she was surprised to see Setsuna kneeling next to the bed. Her friend turned a sleepy red eye on her and put her finger to her lips, nodding her head in such a way that beckoned Michiru to her side. It was then that Michiru looked at her daughter.  
She had to resist the urge to go back for her camera. Hotaru was snuggled happily in the sheets, Haruka right behind her with her arms around her waist protectively. Both were smiling serenly, Haruka snoring softly.  
"Ara..." Michiru whispered to Setsuna, "they're adorable."  
"Hai..." Setsuna raised her hand, showing Michiru the disposable camera she held. "And it's been captured for the ages, trust me."  
Michiru giggled softly. As the two rose quietly and left the room, she remarked, "You know you're going to have to make several copies for everyone."  
Setsuna smiled that timeless smile of hers. "Of course I do. I've seen the picture before. It's hanging in the castle library. Neo Queen Serenity placed it there herself." At Michiru's bemused grin, she only shrugged and remarked, "It pays to be the Guardian of Time."  
"That it does," Michiru agreed.  



End file.
